A Year-long Series on Education, Sponsored by The Aligarh Forum : – A Mirror on our Efforts, our Successes & our Shortcomings ; Stories of triumphs, tribulations and struggles of the Indian Muslims in improving their educational status, in illiteracy alleviation, and in their professional and social uplift.
By Abu Zafar, TwoCircles.net,
New Delhi: For 14-year-old Munirul Islam that day in 2004 was a day of joy and happiness when he ran away with his other classmates from his school in Munshirhat, a locality of Howrah in West Bengal, but now when he has turned 22, he has realized that it was worst decision of his life. He has restarted his educational life with new enthusiasm and passion. Now he is going for basic computer class and preparing to join National Institute of Open Schooling for further studies.
At the time when the dropout phenomenon is one of the key problems in primary education in India especially in Muslim community, Islam is an excellent example to make his own way.
Munirul Islam
Islam had left education when he was at seventh standard. In 2009 he shifted to Delhi and started working with his elder brother in embroidery workshop in Jamia Nagar.
But the question is: How he has been motivated to resume studies after a long period of eight years? Islam says that for him now it is a dream.
“Now it looks like a dream. I couldn’t have imagined that I will start my study again,” says Islam while narrating his fresh journey of education.
According to him, last year in winter season while travelling in a Delhi Transport Corporation bus from Ashram to Okhla he was introduced to Nasir Khan, a post graduate student of Jamia Millia Islamia. Nasir asked him about his education and also as to why he discontinued it.
“I explained him that unfortunately I didn’t study much and there is no way to resume it,” Islam says. “But Nasir disagreed with me and said that nowadays age is no barrier for having education,” Islam further said.
Islam says that Nasir directed him to start this journey through reading story books and item of his interest in newspapers. He started reading both in Hindi. “I used to purchase a Hindi newspaper and read it whole week. In beginning it took more time to reading Hindi than the Bangla which is my mother tongue. But after one month’s practice I was feeling comfortable.”
He continuously read sports news in Hindi newspapers and story books written by Urdu poet and writer Mael Khairabadi till five months and then joined computer classes.
Islam wants to complete Intermediate through National Institute of Open Schooling and at end of the day he wants to become a fashion designer. To achieve this goal he has joined a basic computer learning course to polish his technical ability and also started to improve his English language skills at an English language coaching centre.
Earlier sometimes his brother would send him to some companies with embroidery clothes and where he realized that leaving education was a huge mistake.
“I could only listen to people who speak fluently in English and discuss different designing models, then I realized that it was a huge mistake that I couldn’t learn much,” he said.
But then the only question in his mind was: “what could I do now?”
Islam’s father Anwar Ali is a wood-cutter but wanted to educate his children. But only his daughter, Mansoora Begum, completed Intermediate and two sons, Nazrul Ali and Sirajul Ali have left their education in 4th and 3rd standards respectively. “When I left my studies then my father was so angry with me.”
Islam now doesn’t have contact with Nasir as after the next exam he left Delhi to Sharjah for job. He has only good words for Nasir.
“I can’t forget him as he has changed the perception of life for me.”